Secret Brunch launches in Paris – fun concept but might need some work!
5-2-2015
This Saturday marked the launch of Secret Brunch in Paris, a concept coming from London for their first international event.
The concept is very simple, you sign up, buy a ticket and on the day of the event you get an email with the ‘secret’ location you are expected two hours later for a brunch party from 12.00 to 18.00 o’clock.
Whilst already being a mainstay for a few years in the London scene this was their very first appearance in Paris. They got a great start by being sold out more than a month in advance and the beau monde Parisian seemed ready for it!
Unfortunately it did not quite live up to the hype just yet, quite a few Parisians were rather disappointed by the location, Matignon, it being just in a well-known restaurant/nightclub near the Champs-Elysees. People were expecting something more grand and unexpected.
Organization wise there were also still some hinges, for example you could only reserve a table for groups from 6 pax on which meant that everyone who just bought a ticket had no place to eat! Managing expectations in what to expect from the ticket might also be something to consider for next time.
The party was quite alive and hopping but there is still a lot of room for improvement!^Leonie van Spronsen
Food films are popular
30-1-2015
Food films are popular. We have the Food Film Festival in Amsterdam since 2011 and at the Berlinale they will also exhibit various food films during the Culinary Cinema program. Including the documentary ‘Cooking Up a Tribute’.
Last Tuesday we wrote about the popularity of food films in an article about the trailer of the film ‘Fucking Perfect’ of Sergio Herman. We used various examples from the past, but recently the program of the Culinary Cinema at the Berlin Film Festival (known as the Berlinale) was published. Which includes the documentary about the owners of El Celler de Can Roca, entitled ‘Cooking Up a Tribute’ which will premiere on 10 February.
Trailer of ‘Cooking Up a Tribute’
The documentary was directed by Luis Gonzalez and Andrea Gomez and is about Summer 2014 when Josep, Joan and Jordi Roca closed their restaurant for a period of 5 weeks. In these 5 weeks, they did a tour of the American continent: Roca n’Roll World Tour 2014. They visited six different places; Houston, Dallas, Monterrey, Mexico City, Lima and Bogota.
Food films are popular and easy to combine with a good meal
In Amsterdam we have the Food Film Festival and we hope that during the next edition they run most movies that are exhibited at the Berlinale. During the Berlinale the Michelin-starred chefs Paco Pérez and Christian Lohse (amongst others) will serve menus inspired by the films. The American chef Alice Waters and the president of the Slow Food movement Carlo Petrini will be honored during this Culinary Cinema. We wonder if it will be such a great tribute as Alain Passard received in 2014. And whether the menus that are inspired by the movies will be prepared by the chefs at the Berlinale as original as the chefs at the Dutch Food Film Festival did during last year’s lunch (Proefwerk). In the article from the website Fine Dining Lovers you can see the list of all the culinary movies shown at the Berlinale. You can book tickets on the website of the Berlinale.
Dutch food truck special | Pastaiola
28-1-2015
The Summer of 2014 was one of thriving food festivals. With several events focused on mobile kitchens and a lot of food trucks on smaller festivals throughout the country, the open air food offer grew tremendously. This was partly due to the efforts of The Food Line-Up, ‘Vleesch Noch Visch’ and ‘Rollende Keukens’.
Dutch food truck in Amsterdam
Recently an article on Dutch news website Nu.nl announced that the municipality of Amsterdam starts with giving out permits for food trucks on the streets of the city.
A great trigger to start a Dutch food truck special at Horecatrends.com and highlight some of the food trucks mentioned in the (Dutch) book ‘Reizende Sterren’ (Travelling Stars).
The food truck you see on this page is called Pastaiola and is owned by Jolanda Vrijenhoek. This truck offers Italian pasta and originated in the bicycle scene offering nutricious meals during sport events. Monica Abdoel write about it in the book ‘Reizende Sterren’, unfortunately it is only available in Dutch. If you want to show your (favorite) food truck at the website please write to tip@spronsen.com. If you’re interested in the Dutch food truck scene we can definitely recommend the annual ‘Rollende Keukens’ event in Amsterdam with over a hundred trucks on one location every May.
Dutch food truck special | Just Like Your Mom Catering
28-1-2015
The Summer of 2014 was one of thriving food festivals. With several events focused on mobile kitchens and a lot of food trucks on smaller festivals throughout the country, the open air food offer grew tremendously. This was partly due to the efforts of The Food Line-Up, ‘Vleesch Noch Visch’ and ‘Rollende Keukens’.
Dutch food truck in Amsterdam
Recently an article on Dutch news website Nu.nl announced that the municipality of Amsterdam starts with giving out permits for food trucks on the streets of the city. A great trigger to start a Dutch food truck special at Horecatrends.com and highlight some of the food trucks mentioned in the (Dutch) book ‘Reizende Sterren’ (Travelling Stars).
The food truck you see on this page is called Just Like Your Mom Catering and is owned by Etjen van der Vliet en Sandra Smit. ‘Just like your mom, we’ll take care of you. The book they’re mentioned in, ‘Reizende Sterren’, is only available in Dutch. If you want to show your (favorite) food truck at the website please write to tip@spronsen.com. If you’re interested in the Dutch food truck scene we can definitely recommend the annual ‘Rollende Keukens’ event in Amsterdam in May with over a hundred trucks on one location.
Dutch food truck special – Fritèz
28-1-2015
The Summer of 2014 was one of thriving food festivals. With several events focused on mobile kitchens and a lot of food trucks on smaller festivals throughout the country, the open air food offer grew tremendously. This was partly due to the efforts of The Food Line-Up, ‘Vleesch Noch Visch’ and ‘Rollende Keukens’.
Dutch food truck in Amsterdam
Recently an article on Dutch news website Nu.nl announced that the municipality of Amsterdam starts with giving out permits for food trucks on the streets of the Dutch capital. A great trigger to start a food truck special at Horecatrends.com and highlight some of the food trucks mentioned in the (Dutch) book ‘Reizende Sterren’ (Travelling Stars).
The food truck you see on this page is called Fritèz – Haute Friture and is owned by Ruben Kruit. This truck offers organic ‘French Fries’. The book ‘Reizende Sterren’ is only available in Dutch. If you want to show your (favorite) food truck at the website please write to tip@spronsen.com. If you’re interested in the Dutch food truck scene we can definitely recommend the annual ‘Rollende Keukens’ event in Amsterdam in May with over a hundred trucks on one location.
Second store for De Bakkerswinkel in Rotterdam
13-1-2015
De Bakkerswinkel opened the doors of their second store in Rotterdam (The Netherlands) on 9 January.
Everybody can go to the bakery for breakfast, freshly made sandwiches, a high tea, cake, coffee or a drink with snacks. Besides a big restaurant there is a takeaway shop where you can get a quick coffee and different sandwiches but also buy a cake or marmalade.
Interior
The bakery is located in a former bank office. Designer Piet Hein Eek designed the bakery. De Bakkerswinkel creates new products with respect for the traditional ingredients, Piet Hein Eek designed the restaurant/store in the same way, with respect and understanding of the materials.
De Bakkerswinkel
De Bakkerswinkel is a growing company with eight locations in Amsterdam, Utrecht, The Hague, Zoetermeer and Rotterdam (all in The Netherlands). ‘De Bakkerswinkel’ is not a chain, each location is unique and has its own atmosphere and identity tailored to the environment. Each branch contains a store, a restaurant, a traditional bakery and kitchen that can be seen by guests.
Piet Hekker is the founder and owner of De Bakkerswinkel. He wanted to create a place where people feel at home. The funding is realized through crowdfunding. With crowdfunding a lot of guests are participating in ‘De Bakkerswinkel’! We earlier wrote about De Bakkerswinkel in Amsterdam West who recently also opened in the evenings.
Piazza Duomo at Harrods
9-1-2015
Since September 2014 , Harrods welcomes five of Italy’s best restaurants in their pop-up concept #Stelle di Stelle. This month the three-Michelin-starred restaurant ‘Piazza Duomo’ by Enrico Crippa takes the lead
Piazza Duomo
Enrico Crippa is famous among the young generation of Italian chefs. Crippa has worked with Europe’s most famous chefs like Ferran Adrià, Michel Bras en Antoine Westermann. In 2005 Crippa opened Ristorante Piazza Duomo in Alba, Italy. Piazza Duomo serves raw ingredients selected from the restaurant’s own vegetable garden that encompasses 5 acres of land.
Piazza Duomo five-course menu at Harrods will feature:
– Veal in tuna sauce
– Alta Langa potato cream with quail egg and Lapsang Souchong
– Agnolotti del Plin stuffed with three roasts, served with roast meat juices
– Fassona beef braised with Barolo and polenta
– ‘Relanghe’ hazelnut cake and cold zabaglione with Moscato wine
There will be a lunch and a dinner round each day. The menu is priced at £ 65 for lunch (a reduced version of the menu), or £ 115 for the whole menu. You can make a reservation till 31 January.
Stelle di Stelle
Stelle di Stelle works together with Identità Golose, a culinary organisation that wants to promote the traditional Italian kitchen and gastronomic delights worldwide. There has been a Stelle di Stelle at London and New York. The next edition will take place in Chicago September 2015.
Bakery through crowdfunding
7-1-2015
BAQ, a bakery café in Groningen (The Netherlands) can open its doors through crowdfunding.
Patrick, Ellen and Evelien are the owners of BAQ. With already three locations in Drenthe they now want to open their fourth bakery in Groningen. This requires an investment of at least € 25.000, =. By a crowdfunding campaign via CrowdAboutNow they’ve already have raised 146% of the required € 25.000, =.
Funding
The funding will be used for the required bank guarantee to rent the property and for the purchase of an oven, pastry vitrine, a bread slicing machine, freezer, other kitchen equipment, the interior and marketing. When there will be raised more than the required amount, the additional funding will be used for the purchase of solar panels. The more successful the crowdfunding is, the more sustainable the bakery café will be.
Products
BAQ bakery café works together with local farmers and millers. The bread is made without additives, e-numbers and lactose. They are have a wide range of spelled bread and sourdough. You can go to the bakery for a cup of coffee with some cake or for a delicious lunch.
Thank you
The crowdfunding campaign takes 60 days and lasts until 12 March, 2015. Investments starts from € 100, = with a return of 4% each year for five years. BAQ bakery café is thanking their investors with different rewards per invested amount. For example they are giving a lovely high tea or offer a workshop for making bread to thank for the confidence in the company.
Book a room for a few hours
7-1-2015
When booking a room in The Netherlands online, Dutch hotels are often limited to a standard rate for one night. It’s hardly impossible to book a room for a few hours.
Minimum stay
There are website that gave it a try, such as ‘Day-Use Hotels‘ which we wrote about in 2012. That website is in the Netherlands still limited to Hotel & Spa Savarin and offers a minimum stay of five hours. The website of between9and5.com gives a little more options for a room, although even there fixed time frames apply with a minimum of five hours. It’s still not possible to book a room for a few hours.
Expanding time windows
With an emerging international 24-hour economy, arrival and departure times are no longer as set as they used to be. If guests themselves could indicate during which time they wish to use the room, hotels would get the maximum out of their available rooms.
Capsules in Asia
Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong are more familiar with booking rooms by the hour, since it is a regularity that tourists or businessmen rest a few hours in capsule hotels. Green Plaza Shinjuku Capsule Hotel even offers 630 cabins, but these are restricted to men only. A capsule measures 190cm by 100cm by 90cm and has air conditioning, a TV, radio, alarm clock and adjustable lighting.
Book a room for a few hours
Although sleeping capsules seem claustrophobic to us and do not fit our culture, Dutch guests from the region might find it pleasant to book a hotel for a few hours in the Netherlands as well. Only not like the tourists and business guests do in Asia. It can be an opportunity for dating purposes.
Dating in hotel rooms
The dating market is hot! There is an interesting market for the visitors of dating sites like Second Love and Ashley Madison. Apps like Tinder and Grindr are in high demand and it is becoming easier for ‘adventurers’ get in touch with like-minded people. This (online) dating market is an interesting business for hotels. There’s taboo on renting rooms for these occasions, but for hotels it’s a chance to earn extra money by renting rooms for a few hours that would otherwise still be vacant. Which hotel offers an easy booking system to book rooms by the hour? Let us know via tip@spronsen.com, we’ll be discrete.
Food waste recycling Seattle
5-1-2015
In Seattle it is no longer allowed to throw food and food waste in the bin from 1 January onwards. Enforcement of the new rule will start from July, which implicates that each standard family bin that contains more than 10% recyclable and / or food waste will receive a $ 1,- fine on the next waste bill. Multi-family property owners with too much food waste in trash will get a $ 50, – fine after two warnings.
Recycling for companies
This system of warnings and fines applies to all companies. Before, there were only food recycling rules for catering establishments. Bins in (public) eateries used by consumers are excluded if there are sufficient alternatives to recycle food waste.
Waste target of Seattle
Seattle has set a target to recycle 60 percent of waste in 2015 and is putting effort in achieving this. In 2013 they achieved a recycling percentage of 56%, the city dumps 100,000 tons of food waste in landfills annually. With this new law, Seattle want to divert 38.000 tons of food waste from landfills into composting.
